Legacy Center Blog

Making and Managing Promises Leaders make powerful promises from their vision, from outside their historical box.  Leaders don’t wake up in the morning and say; “The sun is going to rise in the east!” Of course the sun is going to rise in the east.  Leaders wake up in the morning and declare a man on the moon, the end of world hunger, 100% literacy, and equality for all, everybody makes the Life Boat. The power of a promise is that it brings a possibility into existence that was currently not in existence.  A promise is what will tangibly occur within a specified time frame.  A transformational promise is outside the box and is the first step in the manifestation of a vision.  Leaders then take action consistent with the promise and stand responsible for the ways of being actions and results.  Leaders declare the impossible and make it possible.

The drift does not make promise.  The drift says, “I’ll do the best I can.  I’ll get the highest raise I can.  I’ll be a little more open.  I’ll enroll as many people as possible.  I’ll try to have a date.”  When a leader makes a promise, the leader is putting his or her butt on the line.  When the time frame for the promise is complete, if you have the promise you can celebrate all that worked, and learn from all that didn’t work or from what was missing.  If you do not have the promise you can celebrate all that worked, and learn from all that didn’t work or from what was missing.  What didn’t work is something that was done that you would want to not do again, what was missing is something that can be added next time.  With a benchmark called a promise, we can quickly learn and grow and cause magnificence. There is always growth when someone reinvents himself or herself even without the result happening.  Leaders do not always achieve their promises.  When leaders play 100%, they may not always have it happen.  Michael Jordan only makes 50% of his shots.  His intention is 100%.  Do not assign meaning to the result not happening.  Once the results are completed and the space is clear, there is space for a vision to be re-created and new promises to be evoked.

Leaders lead from their vision and manage their ways of being and actions from promises.  Make powerful bold promises from vision and make powerful coaching requests from vision.  Live your promises with unwavering intention.  A promise needs to be specific, measurable and stretchy.  It gets to be exciting, juicy and currently not possible from your historical box.  There is no formula to have this happen.

The first step in inventing a future is to make a promise about the future.  This is not a “I want, hope, wish, would like, this to happen.”  This is a bold promise of commitment. This requires courage and intention.  Leaders stand as if the promise is a done deal and is accomplished.  You need to live your word to have it happen.  That means you do not gesture at the promise; you put every thing into place, as much as possible, ensuring that it happens.  Vision and promises call us forth and determine where we come from.  We are not getting to the future.  We are not trying to achieve a goal.  We are coming from the invented future, now.

The person who makes a success of living is the one who see his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly – Cecil B. DeMille
Dr. Lori Todd